Tip O'Neill, long-time Massachusetts legislator, speaker of hte house in the 80s and the last of an era, once famously stated that all politics is local.
Perhaps.
But all politics follows the money.
Case in p oint is the debate over transportaion funding here in 'government by initiative' Washington State.
In 2002 and 2003, King, Pierce and Snohomish counties will export $258 million of their transportation tax dollars to roads outside the region, subsidizing rural Washington even as urban highways worsen. Meanwhile, here in Douglas County, taxpayers will get triple the benefit from their $10 million investment. Yet rural voters feel big-city interests have an undue influence on state policy. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/57838_eastwest11.shtml
These people have a problem with authority. They great a 3:1 benefit on their transportaion tadx dollars, yet still resist any guidance from the folks blessing them with that phenomenal return. The following quote, from later in the same article, says much about these people's math skills:
After a short deliberation -- or a pause to chew and swallow -- the 40-year-old postal worker concluded that if roads such as U.S. 97 were part of a statewide package, "I'd vote for 9 more cents on the gallon." His comment drew mock disbelief from his wife, who stepped away from the dining table where she was paying bills. "That's a big statement for him," Elaine Logan said. "He'd drive 30 miles to save a nickel a gallon -- and that's not an exaggeration."
9:34:22 PM 
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